Raffaella Mannori –classi 2° -2012-2013
BLOOD DIAMOND - Plot
1
Set during the Sierra Leone Civil War in 1999, the film shows a country torn
apart by the struggle between government soldiers and rebel forces.The film
portrays many of the atrocities of that war, including the rebels' amputation of
people's hands to stop them from voting in upcoming elections.
The film begins with the capture of Solomon
Vandy , a Mende ( a population in Sierra
Leone) fisherman, by the Revolutionary
United Front (RUF) rebels when they invade
the small Sierra Leonian village of Shenge.
Separated from his family, Solomon is
enslaved to work in the diamond fields under
the command of Captain Poison while his
son Dia is conscripted into the rebel forces,
the brainwashing eventually turning him into
a hardened killer. The RUF use the diamonds
to fund their war effort, often trading them
directly for arms. While working in the RUF
diamond fields as a forced laborer, Solomon
finds a large diamond of rare pink coloring.
Moments before government troops launch
an attack, Captain Poison sees Solomon
hiding the diamond. Captain Poison is
injured in the attack before he can get the
stone, and both he and Solomon are taken to
prison in Freetown, the capital of Sierra
Leone.
Danny Archer (Leonardo DiCaprio), an Anglo
ex-mercenary from Rhodesia (now
Zimbabwe), trades arms for diamonds with a
RUF commander. He is imprisoned after
being caught smuggling the diamonds into
neighboring Liberia, and the diamonds are
confiscated. He had been transporting the
diamonds to a South African mercenary
named Colonel Coetzee , who is in turn
employed by South African diamond
company executive Van De Kaap .
Coetzee is Archer's former commander in 32
Battalion, the most decorated unit of the
South African Border War, made up of
Angolan and Rhodesian soldiers and white
South African officers. While in prison,
Danny overhears Captain Poison ranting to
Solomon about the discovery of the large
diamond and decides to hunt down the
stone. He arranges for Solomon's release
from prison and offers to help him find his
family in exchange for the diamond.
Archer and Solomon find their way to Maddy
Bowen , an American journalist, who helps
Solomon track down his family. Bowen soon
learns that Archer is using Solomon to find
his diamond and will eventually steal it for
himself, to leave Africa forever. Bowen, a
humanitarian, refuses to help Archer unless
he can tell her about the diamond market to
stop the flow of blood diamonds out of Africa,
cutting off funding for Civil War and ending a
mass revolution. Archer gives Bowen the
information that she wants and gets access
to use the press convoy to travel and find
the diamond.
After an arduous overnight trek, the men
reach the mining camp in a river valley, still
under RUF control, where Solomon
discovered and buried the large diamond.
Here, Solomon is painfully reunited with his
son Dia, who refuses to acknowledge him
because he has been brainwashed by the
rebels. Solomon is also reunited with Captain
Poison, who orders him to find the diamond,
but the South African mercenary force, also
after the diamond, dispatches the RUF rebels
in a massive air strike which kills many of
the RUF rebels and some of the miners.
Amist the chaos, Solomon kills Poison with a
shovel.
As Archer overturns a body to take
equipment he realizes he has been shot, but
keeps this to himself. Having arranged in
advance for a plane to pick him up, he calls
the pilot on the radio . While the group is
making their way slowly and painfully from
the valley , Archer collapses, unable to
climb, and Solomon carries him a little ways
before Archer asks him to put him down. He
tells Solomon to take Dia home, knowing
that he is dying, and gives them the diamond
and then makes a final phone call to Bowen,
asking her to help Solomon as a last favor
before looking out over the beautiful
Raffaella Mannori –classi 2° -2012-2013
landscape of Africa once more and dying
peacefully.
With the help of Bowen, Solomon trades the
diamond for a large sum of money and the
reunification of his family, making the
exchange .
Bowen, who secretly photographs the
deal, later publishes a magazine piece
exposing the trade in "conflict" or "blood"
diamonds. The film ends with Solomon
smiling at the photograph Maddy took of
Archer earlier, now published in her
magazine along with the complete story of
their journey, before addressing a conference
on blood diamonds in Kimberley, South
Africa, describing his experiences
. QUESTIONS:
1. Why do rebels amputate
people’s hands?
2. What is RUF?
3. What happens to Solomon and
his son Dia?
4. Why are diamonds important
for RUF?
5. What does Solomon find in the
diamond fields he is forced to
work?
6. Who is Captain Poison.
7. Why is Danny Archer
imprisoned?
8. Why does Danny Archer
arrange for Solomon’s release?
9. Who is Maddy Bowen ?
10.
How does Maddy help
Solomon?
11.
What does Maddy
discover about Archer’s real
intentions with Solomon?
12.
What does Maddy
want from Archer?
13.
Who does Solomon meet
at the miming camp where he
buried the big, pink diamond?
14.
Is the mining camp still
under the control of RUF?
15.
What happens while
Solomon and Danny are at the
mining camp?
16.
What does Archer do in
the end to help Solomon?
17.
What is the end of the
film about?
18.
What do you think the
final message of the film is? Do
you think the end is
pessimistic or optimistic? Give
reasons.
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